Pulp chip forming apparatus

ABSTRACT

A pair of chipping wheels mounted on a common drive shaft have blades on their outer, plane working surfaces, the blades on one wheel being for chipping veneer material and the blades on the other wheel being for chipping core material. The blades extend across a major proportion of the radii of the wheels, and feed means are arranged to feed veneer and core material to the associated wheels across substantially the full radial length of the blades. The veneer material is fed to its wheel substantially perpendicular thereto and the core material is fed to its wheel at an acute included angle thereto.

United States Patent Utterback 1 Feb. 22, 1972 [54] PULP CHIP FORMING APPARATUS [72] lnventor: Victor 1. Utterback, 4583 Sunnyview Road, NE, Salem, Oreg. 97303 [22] Filed: Dec. 29, 1969 3,069,101 12/1962 Wexell ..24l/92 2,080,557 5/1937 Bravi 144/187 2,847,045 8/1958 Brown 144/326 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 663,283 8/1938 Germany ..24l/278 Primary Examiner-Gerald A. Dost Anarney0liver D. Olson [57] ABSTRACT A pair of chipping wheels mounted on a common drive shaft have blades on their outer, plane working surfaces, the blades on one wheel being for chipping veneer material and the blades on the other wheel being for chipping core material. The blades extend across a major proportion of the radii of the wheels, and feed means are arranged to feed veneer and core material to the associated wheels across substantially the full radial length of the blades. The veneer material is fed to its wheel substantially perpendicular thereto and the core material is fed to its wheel at an acute included angle thereto.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PULP CHIP FORMING APPARATUS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of my earlier application Ser. No. 678,836, filed Oct. 30, 1967 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for producing pulp chips, and more particularly to apparatus for producing pulp chips simultaneously from scrap veneer and core materials.

Because of the need to save material and make money from otherwise wasted portions of logs in the wood veneer industry, it is economically advantageous to convert reject veneer and veneer cores into pulp chips.

Reject veneer and core materials heretofore have been reduced to pulp chips by use of separate machines, one designed specifically to process veneer material and the other designed specifically to process core material. This duplication of equipment represents excessive capital investment, utilizes excessive plant space and multiplies costs of labor for operation and maintenance.

Apparatus provided heretofore for producing pulp chips simultaneously from reject veneer and core materials utilizes a single chipping wheel having a working surface divided into two concentric offset portions which are spaced to different depths from the straight cutting edge of each of a plurality of blades which extend radially across both of said surfaces, to accommodate simultaneous chipping of veneer and core materials to produce chips of equal length from both materials.

The primary disadvantages of such prior apparatus reside in the excessive cost of providing the chipping wheel with offset concentric portions, and in the limitation of width of material capable of being processed by it. That is to say, since each working surface is less than one-half the radius of the wheel, the width of material fed to each surface is correspondingly limited. This limitation is reflected in a correspondingly limited rate ofpulp chip production.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In its basic concept, the present invention provides apparatus in which each of a pair of chipping wheels mounted on a common drive shaft is provided with a plane working surface associated with chipper blades which extend across a major proportion ofa radius ofsaid surface.

It is by virtue of the forgoing basic concept that the primary objective of this invention is achieved; namely, to overcome the above enumerated disadvantages of prior types of chipping apparatus.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention will appear from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing of the preferred embodiment,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a fragmentary view in side elevation of apparatus embodying the features ofthis invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view as viewed in the direction of the arrows 22 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation as viewed in the direction of the arrows 3-3 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, a horizontal hollow chamber has two vertical spaced-apart wheels 12 and 14 secured to a common horizontal drive shaft 16 and rotated thereby when shaft 16 is rotated about its own axis by conventional drive means (not shown).

The two facing surfaces of these wheels are smooth. The two remotely disposed surfaces are each provided with a plurality of radially extending chipping blades 18 which are equidistantl disposed.

A vertica ly inclined hollow pocket 20 disposed adjacent the blades of wheel 12 has a top opening 22 into which the cores 24 are dropped, the cores moving by gravity out of the bottom opening which is adjacent the blades, whereby the cores are cut into pulp chips which fall into the bottom of chamber 10 where they can be removed.

A vertically rotatable endless belt 26 extending at right angles to the planes of rotation of the wheels has one end disposed adjacent the blades of the other wheel 14.

The veneer sheets 28 are fed between vertical guides 30 between a horizontal cylinder 32 having horizontal parallel blades 34 and the belt. Cylinder 32extends at right angles to the direction of rotation of the belt and itself is rotated to help feed veneer between compacting wheel 36 and the belt. The compacted strips then are fed to the blades '18 of wheel 14 whereby these compacted strips are cut into pulp chips which fall into the bottom of chamber 10 as before.

It is to be noted, particularly from FIG. 2 of the drawing, that the provision of a pair of chipping wheels each provided with a plane working surface and blades which extend across a major proportion of the radius of said working surface, affords production of pulp chips simultaneously from scrap veneer and core materials at maximum production rate. This maximum rate of production is achieved by virtue of the fact that veneer and core materials may be fed to their associated wheels across substantially the full radial length of the chipping blades.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the size, number, type and arrangement of parts described hereinbefore without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having now described my invention and the manner in which it may be used, I claim:

1. Apparatus for converting thin veneer and thick veneer cores into pulp chips, said apparatus comprising:

a. a hollow housing defining a receiving chamber for pulp chips,

b. a rotary drive shaft mounted on the housing,

c. first and second chipping wheels secured to said rotary drive shaft for rotation therewith, the wheels registering with the hollow housing for delivery of pulp chips directly to the latter by gravity,

d. veneer chipping blades mounted on the outer face of said first wheel and extending across the major proportion of the radius of said wheel,

e. core chipping blades mounted on the outer face of said second wheel and extending across the major proportion of the radius of said wheel,

. first feed means for feeding veneer toward the first chipping wheel substantially perpendicular thereto and across substantially the full radial length of the veneer chipping blades, and

g. second feed means for feeding cores toward the second chipping wheel at an acute included angle thereto and across substantially the full radial length of the core chipping blades.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a. the first feed means comprises a conveyor means arranged to feed veneer toward the first chipping wheel horizontally to one side of the rotary drive shaft, and

b. the second feed means comprises a hollow pocket disposed adjacent the second chipping wheel on the same side of the rotary drive shaft as said conveyor means and arranged at an acute angle to said second chipping wheel for feeding cores by gravity to said wheel. 

1. Apparatus for converting thin veneer and thick veneer cores into pulp chips, said apparatus comprising: a. a hollow housing defining a receiving chamber for pulp chips, b. a rotary drive shaft mounted on the housing, c. first and second chipping wheels secured to said rotary drive shaft for rotation therewith, the wheels registering with the hollow housing for delivery of pulp chips directly to the latter by gravity, d. veneer chipping blades mounted on the outer face of said first wheel and extending across the major proportion of the radius of said wheel, e. core chipping blades mounted on the outer face of said second wheel and extending across the major proportion of the radius of said wheel, f. first feed means for feeding veneer toward the first chipping wheel substantially perpendicular thereto and across substantially the full radial length of the veneer chipping blades, and g. second feed means for feeding cores toward the second chipping wheel at an acute included angle thereto and across substantially the full radial length of the core chipping blades.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a. the first feed means comprises a conveyor means arranged to feed veneer toward the first chipping wheel horizontally to one side of the rotary drive shaft, and b. the second feed means comprises a hollow pocket disposed adjacent the second chipping wheel on the same side of the rotary drive sHaft as said conveyor means and arranged at an acute angle to said second chipping wheel for feeding cores by gravity to said wheel. 